That’s the rather catchy headline from the Telegraph. “The statue of Padre Pio… will be built on a hill in southern Italy.” Seems the saint will produce electricity via a coating of photovoltaic paint “which will enable it to trap the sun’s heat and produce solar energy.”

Witty remarks about Italians and religion aside, the old synapses immediately snapped to imagining museum sculpture gardens filled with energy-producing works. But wait. The whole museum building could be covered with photovoltaic paint, no? Why isn’t this being done? Why do I have ugly solar panels on my roof? Why isn’t our world covered in this stuff? Why isn’t my car coated with it?

A quick Google search leads to the impression that the paint / covering is still under development. Well, it can’t happen soon enough.

At least we know who the patron saint of this technology is.